What initially appeared to be a house fire in Kenai turned out to be a case of burglary and arson.
Around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, the Kenai Fire Department and Kenai Police responded to a report of a house fire at a residence on Haida Drive in Kenai. No one was inside the home at the time of the fire.
Thanks to Kenai Fire’s quick response, the home was saved, although it did suffer “significant smoke, fire, and water damage,” according to a report from the Kenai Police Department. While no people were at the home, a domestic housecat was found deceased inside after the fire was extinguished.
Once the smoke cleared, a subsequent investigation led the fire department and KPD to suspect that the fire’s ignition was nefarious in nature. Home security footage from neighboring houses led police to the conclusion that the fire was, in fact, an act of arson.
“We know it [was arson] because there were neighborhood cameras that caught a suspect coming and going from that area,” said Kenai Police Lieutenant Ben Langham. “We located the suspect and interviewed her, and she had confessed to it.”
The suspect located by Kenai Police was 53-year-old Kimberly D. Rodgers of Kenai.
Law enforcement at the scene began interviewing neighbors while KFD was fighting the fire, which led to the revelation that Rodgers’s actions had been captured by security cameras. Lieutenant Langham called the process of transition from fire suppression to criminal investigation a “fluid transition” as the two departments worked together.
“The fire department has their role in saving the property and preventing further damage in the neighborhood, and obviously, we have our own role,” Langham said. “So we worked, you know, with the fire Marshall there on [the] scene to kind of start, initiate and wrap up the investigation.”
Rodgers was arrested on one count of Second-Degree Arson and one count of First-Degree Burglary. She was remanded to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility.